My Heart Sister's Stocking

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 "When a friend looks out a window of your life, she sees the same world you do.  Your happiness is her happiness. Your success is her success.  Such a friend is the best sort to have.  Every good thing multiplies when it is shared by two with the same heart."  (Treasured Friends by Heather Harpham Kopp and Sandra Kuck)

Vintage Red Work Cross Stitch on linen.

Friends are precious treasures to be cherished.  Those friends who truly do "see the world as you do" and consider your blessings and trials to be their own are rarer than the finest diamonds.  I am lucky to be blessed with a precious handful of such friends.  Jana is one of those jewels in my life.  She is the sister of my heart.  We have been friends since our freshman year of high school.  She is the friend I've had the longest.

I made and filled this stocking as my gift to her this year.  I used two vintage (really antique) small table cloths.  One was a heavier weave linen with Red Work Cross Stitch and the other was a finer weave linen with the most amazing handwork.  Both cloths were stained and had holes so I didn't feel guilty cutting them up to make something new.  I used an old cotton bed sheet for the lining and dainty whipstitch piping.  The back of the stocking is made with a pretty holiday print cotton fabric.  

Lovely!

Check out that gorgeous hand satin stitched scallop work around the perimeter!

The initial tag is made with some of the left-over fabric and attached with red cording, red jingle bells, and three little silver charms.  The one on the tag says 'love' and there is a tiny teapot(she LOVES tea) and a little "J".

Jana loves the stocking and has made me promise to make one as much like it as possible but with the initial "K" for Karen.  She wants to start a new tradition of filling stockings for each other!  She lives in Georgia so when I visit her this summer we will trade stockings so that we are ready for Christmas 2013.  I love it!

The back of the stocking.  My husband like this side the best!
 "I have called you friends, because I have made known to you everything that I have heard from my Father." 

 John 15:15 

Quick Holiday Pillowcases

Well... these would have been quick if I had made only one or two... or even three or four!!!  No, I made sixteen of them!  And I helped my daughter make four more!  Goodness!  I used up a LOT of holday fabric from my stash, though, and didn't buy anything new for this project!  Yippee!  All were made for gifts and made the little people happy.  Hopefully, they have been using them this whole month to dream of the   'sugarplums' and toys to come.

Quick Holiday Skirts For Little Girls

 These were cute, easy skirts made for a friend's three girls.  For the older girls I used the tutorial found here:  http://bridgetbaxter.blogspot.com/2009/04/ta-da-double-layer-skirt.html  Don't wait to check it out because she may not have her blog available for viewing after the holidays.  They are so easy,  that if you are a confident sewist, you probably won't need directions for making these anyway.

 For the baby's skirt, I just added a skirt to the top of a little pair of puffy pant*ies.  Easy, quick,  and cute!  The pant*ies (spelling adjusted so that I don't come up in a google search for unmentionables!) pattern is my 'go to' pattern from AS&E #53 (Australian Smocking & Embroidery).  Happy Holidays and Happy Sewing!

Delaney's Holiday Dress

This was made as a gift for a beautiful blonde blue-eyed angel to wear with a white blouse or red or white mock turtleneck.  I used another wide holiday border print from my stash that I absolutely love.  You can't see it in the pictures, but the sugar on the sweets sparkles like real sugar!  The background is a dark blue, not black.  It's a dark print for a very small little girl but I think the bright and busy border makes up for it!

The pattern I used is 'Baby Annie' by Primrose Lane.  This is the little sister version of 'Annie's Sundress and Jumper'.  The big difference in the pattern is the back.  This one opens with a buttoned back bodice and lapped placket.  I like this addition to the pattern for the aesthetics as well as the practicality of getting a wiggly, uncooperative baby into the dress.  The dress also features a romper version which is adorable, too.

The pattern can be found at:

http://www.primroselanepatterns.com/

(I have no affiliation with the company.  I just love her patterns!)

Happy Holidays and Happy Sewing!  I hope you are having fun and trying to reduce the stress this season sometimes (often?) brings.

Lauren's Holiday Dress Set

This was made for a friend's little girl last year.  I love using border prints, especially wide borders. They make such a lovely built-in embellished effect and are time savers when you need a pretty dress but you don't have a lot of time to sew.   I used my all-time favorite pattern Primrose Lane's "Annie's Sundress and Jumper" for the dress and a simple peasant blouse pattern for the blouse. It is a classic style that always meets with the approval of the little girls I sew for.   I used a wider skirt width for the skirts for more 'twirl' and added a sash. Lining in a contrast fabric makes for pretty ties at the shoulders.

You can find this pattern and many more lovely designs at http://www.primroselanepatterns.com/ .I hope you are finding some time to do a little holiday sewing, too!

Holiday Smocking for Baby

 Well, my good intentions about posting more often went astray.  I am blessed with a rich and varied life with lots of ups and downs and lots of "busy-ing" as my beautiful grown-up daughter used to say when she little.  My wonderful husband had another surgery in September that derailed my plans a bit and, to be honest, it is hard to get back into the swing of blogging when you step away for a while.  So....Everyday is a blessed new beginning and I begin again.  I have been 'busy-ing' and have lots to share that have never been blogged about before.  First up is a smocked baby ensemble I made as a gift for a sweet friend's first granddaughter.

 I used Jeannie Baumeister's pattern:  The Old Fashioned Baby:  Baby's Smocked Layette for all three pieces.  This was my first time using this pattern and I am enthralled with it.   I adore making traditional baby clothing and Jeannie's pattern was wonderful to work with!  I decided to make the shorter dress version but with lace edging like the daygown.  Lovely French lace, vintage pearl baby buttons, and silk ribbon are always a dream to work with.  Imperial batiste was the fabric of choice for it's ease of care for the modern mama.

Back of dress with the tiny vintage buttons.

I chose to use a different smocking design on the front of the dress than that in the pattern because I wanted the smocking to make more of a holiday statement.  I used a simple design by Ellen McCarn:  "Kelly".

Cable smocking on the sleeves with French knot flowers and lazy daisy leaves.

Gathered lace added to the hem.

The bonnet was smocked with a design I made up to coordinate with the dress.  I love this bonnet! It frames an infant's face so beautifully.   I have another pattern that I really like, too (Anna's Smocked Bonnet)  that has a folded back ruffle that is a bit more complicated to make up than this one but I think this one is my new favorite.  I think that I might like to combine my favorite features of both bonnets someday.  The baby slip was made with only one shoulder button closure.  The pattern has two. 

Another shot of the bonnet closes this edition.  Jeannie has the most gorgeous patterns for babies.  You can find her store at www.oldfashionedbaby.com  and her blog at http://oldfashionedbaby.blogspot.com/ .